You and Me Both

Why is it that female vocalists and electronica click so well? Ever since computers went pop, they’ve sounded most ageless when backing up helplessly human female vocalists and working that whole cold-machine/bleeding-heart dichotomy, like in Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love,” Yaz’s Upstairs at Eric’s, Portishead’s Dummy. Now, Natalie Walker’s second album, With You, is proof that that tension never gets old.

Those familiar with Walker’s hit “Circles,” which was featured on Grey’s Anatomy, won’t be disappointed. Neither will anyone who yearns for trip-hop’s late-90s heyday, when acts like Hooverphonic sweetened Portishead’s original recipe with playful, space-age melodies. The glistening, sugar-coated keyboards that accompany Walker’s winsome voice make her pop sound heavenly.

Lyrically, the woman’s got her feet planted firmly on the ground. Only on the dazed “Hypnotize” does she sound as if she’s lost in the cosmos. Like Beth Orton, Walker’s a practical-minded electro-folkie who gives you the firm impression that all her work is born on an acoustic guitar.

With You is available digitally now, and on CD August 26, from Dorado Records / Fontana / Universal.

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